2 FACE CHARGES OF DEFRAUDING NANNIES

Two people charged with more than 50 felonies were bound over to 3rd District Court Thursday to face charges of defrauding nannies and their employers of thousands of dollars.

Gary Lee Gale, 51, the former president and director of Nannies Placement Services International Inc., and Lisa Lynn Gale, 28, who was the company's secretary-treasurer, waived their preliminary hearing and were ordered to be arraigned before 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis on Jan. 25.Each is charged with 17 counts of communications fraud, a second-degree felony. Gary Gale is also charged with 14 counts of unlawful dealing with property by a fiduciary, a third-degree felony, and Lisa Gale also faces four counts of the same charge.

Their business, which folded in January of 1990, placed nannies with families throughout the United States. The nannies' employers paid the company fees ranging from $600 to $1,200. The employers were also instructed to pay $300 into a trust account to pay for the nannies' return air fares at the end of their contracts, according to documents filed in 3rd Circuit Court.

The employers who contracted with the company also sent $40 from each of the nannies' paychecks (up to $360) for each of the first nine weeks, and each nanny was required to pay a $50 deposit. All that money was to be put in a trust account and returned to the nannies after they successfully completed their contracts, the documents state.

But prosecutors say the money was not held in trust accounts and believe the accounts had been operating as Ponzi schemes. The money was allegedly used for many other expenses, including paying back previous clients' deposits.

Prosecutors say the Gales continued to collect deposits from investors even after letters were sent to nannies' employers stating the company hadn't been able to live up to its contracts.

The Gales have been released to Pretrial Services, court records state.